Get Ready to Click It—or Expect a Ticket

Drivers will want to double check their seat belts until June 5, while Warren police increase checks on drivers using seat belts as part of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety annual "Click it or ticket" program.

"Using a seatbelt is the simplest way for a motorist and his or her passengers to protect themselves when on the road," Gary Poedubicky, acting director of the division, said. "Motor vehicle occupants who buckle-up increase their chances of surviving a crash by as much as 75 percent."

The Click-it or Ticket program includes checkpoints and saturation patrols to check for compliance with the law, as well as advertising and marketing campaigns to increase awareness of the life-saving value of using seat belts.

Last year, seat belt use in New Jersey increased, to 93.73 percent, the 14th consecutive year of increased compliance.

"New Jersey has one of the strongest seat belt usage rates in the nation, but there is still work to do," Poeubicky said. "To meet our goal (of 100 percent compliance), we must continue to focus on enforcement and public outreach efforts to educate motorists  and their passengers about the critical importance of buckling up every ride."

This year the enforcement campaign will also inclue rear-seat passengers, which are required to use seat belts under a law which went into effect in 2010. Currently, only 27 percent of back seat passengers use seat belts, according to the Division of Highway Traffic Safety.

During the 2010 Click-it or Ticket program, 406 police departments participated, with 35,671 citations issued—along with 5,832 speeding summonses and 592 DWI arrests.